It's well known the original Corvette based Chevrolet Nomad was destroyed sometime after it was featured in the 1954 GM Motorama. Since you can't own the original this masterfully crafted replica is about as close as you can get to owning the real thing. This replica took the car's owner and creator over 7 years and almost $400,000 to build and now the amazing result is listed for sale on Ebay.
Although these days GM concept cars from the 50s and 60s are extremely desirable collectibles, they were once disposal design exercises. The Nomad concept from 1954 was a step towards the beautiful sport station wagons wearing the same name that were available on showroom floors in between 1955 and 1957. When it was done touring as a featured part of the GM Motorama the original Nomad met a similar fate to most "dream cars" of the era—it was destroyed.
The fact the 1954 Nomad only existed in pictures and memories was evidently not enough to stop one man's quest to have one sitting in his garage, so he did the next best thing. Starting with a 1954 Corvette and using pictures of the original car as a guide, countless hours and thousands of dollars went in to creating the detailed replica seen here.
It looks nearly identical to the original show car, but it was "built to drive at highway speed" and "Starts, Stops and handles to meet all of today's requirements". The result is as striking as we imagine the original to be and is a truly one of a kind piece of art. With a little more than five days left, the amount of bids already placed on the car speaks volumes to the car's desirability—it's clear this is anything but your average replica.
According to the seller, the current reserve is pennies on the dollar of the original build price. We aren't sure exactly how many pennies, but we wouldn't be surprised if someone with a sizeable piggy bank jumps at the (only) chance to own the closest thing you can find to the original 1954 Chevrolet Nomad concept.
[Ebay]